1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a memory management technology.
2. Description of the Related Art
In association with the development of highly-functional, low-cost electronic devices (e.g., central processing units (CPUs)), many embedded systems such as cell phones now include a highly-advanced operating system (OS). Various functions are required of an OS in accordance with the performance and usage of systems. Of these, memory management function represents a core function.
Due to the constraints in the size of housings and fabrication cost, the capacity of memories that can be built into a system is limited. The constraints are particularly rigorous in embedded systems so that efficient use of limited memory resources is called for. Also, many systems strictly require that a process be completed within a predefined period of time. In the case of systems with severe time requirements, overhead associated with memory management processes significantly affects the performance of the system as whole.